Sound picture system



. Sept. 15, 1931. s. c. CHAPMAN v SOUND PICTURE SYSTEM Filed Sept. 5. 1929 INVENTOR S. C. QIAPMAN a ma Arm/mgr Patented Sept. 15, 1931 PATENT OFFICE SHELBY C. CHAPMAN, OF JACKSON HEIGHTS,.NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO ELECTRICAL RESEARCH PRODUCTS INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE SOUND PICTURE SYS'IEK Application filed September 5, 1929. Serial No. 390,470.

This invention relates to motion picture films and particularly to adding a photographic sound record to a motion picture film.

b i The object of this invention is to. modify a photographic sound record by chemical means, so that the reproduced sound will gradually vary in volume. I

In the sound picture art, the production as photographed must be edited and arranged in the final form. On many occasions the producer may wish to insert a portion of film, such as a title, for ,.which a corresponding sound record has not been made. To avoid the 5 delay and expense incident to making a sound record for the added portion of film, any suitable sound record may be printed on the film. It will be found however that the sudden change to this new sound record and the sudden change when the new record ends are detrimental to the artistic appeal of the film.

In accordance with this invention the negative print of the sound track is, acted on by a sultable photographic reducer, such as Farmers reducer. A description of this reducer is given on page 159 of ,Photography as a Scientific Instrument published in 1923 by D. Van Nostrand Company, 8 Warren Street, New York city. The ne ative sound record is exposed to the action 0 the reducer for such times as to produce a progressive increase in the completeness of the reducing action as the end of the record is reached. Thus at either end of the portion of film the sound record is soreduced that the film is virtually clear, with the reduction growing progressively less till, at a convenient distance from the end of the portion offilm the sound record is unchanged. A positive print of such a record will have the middle portion of the soundrecord of normal density, and for a distance from either end the record will gradually grow darker till at the end the record will be virtually black.

The reproduced sound will thus gradually increase in volume from silence to the normal volume of the record, vary normally with the record till near the end when the volume of the sound will gradually diminish to silence.

' ative sound picture film.

Referring to. the drawings; Fig. 1 diagrammatically represents a neg- Fig. 2 diagrammatically represents a positive print of Fig. 1.

known in the art. The upper portion 5 of the record is of normal density. The portion of the record 6 has been acted on by chemical means to producea progressive decrease in the density of the record till'in the portion 7 the photographic record has been virtually completely reduced and the film is practically clear. Any pictures 3 depicting an action which have been impressed on the film will be similarly reduced but this action forms no part of the invention.

The sound record 4 in Fig. 1 is then printed on a positive film Fig. 2. The sound record 8 in Fig. 2 will be of normal density at the top and will gradually'increase in density till the portion 9 is virtually opaque. Suitable pictures 10 depicting an action may also be printed on the positive film as desired and the film developed in the usual manner. The

pictures 10 printed on the positive film may be a print of the pictures 3 on the negative, and the action pictures will then fade out with the music. are to be projected with full brilliancy while the music fades, or to fade out in a manner differing from the music, the action pictures 10 may be printed from a separate negative synchronized with the music record. When the film is used in a sound picture projector, the reproduced sound will be of normal volume when the upper part of the record 8 is being reproduced and will gradually diminish in volume to silence, when the part 9 of the record is reached.

lVhat is claimed is:

1. The method of modifying the negative film of a photographic sound record characterized by a chemical reduction of the end If the action picturesportions of the sound record progressively film of a photographic sound record which comprises exposmg a. portion of the sound record to the action of a, photographic reducer and withdrawing sand portion from said reducer at such rate that the photographic image on the ortion last withdrawn is completely reduce In witness whereof, I hereunto subscrib"; my name this third da of Se tember; 19 t SHELB C. C HAPMAN. 

